Emissions and the future of motorcycles | GTAMotorcycle.com

Emissions and the future of motorcycles

bigpoppa

bigpoppa

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As we go more and more electric, what does the future hold for fossil fueled motorcycles?
We already see the japanese manufac gearing up for this, making turbocharged/supercharged motorcycles, etc etc

At some point will they just stop selling fossil fuel vehicles? What if you have motorcycles? Will you be forced to take them off the roads?
Will you be able to 'grandfather' them in like fire arms?

With the number of motorcycles being so insignificant in canada, will we not be subject to emission laws/regulations? and just be able to ride along unaffected?
 
Internal combustion engines make the worlds economy's tick right now.
We won't see it's demise in a long time.
Not our lifetime anyway.

And it will take a lot of technology to make batteries last longer in our colder climate.
 
Low rider said:
Internal combustion engines make the worlds economy's tick right now.
We won't see it's demise in a long time.
Not our lifetime anyway.

And it will take a lot of technology to make batteries last longer in our colder climate.
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Well the upside to bikes is most never see the cold. I think it will be an exceedingly long time (if ever) that ICE engines are actually restricted on public roads. Sure, you may not be able to buy new ones, but the existing ones will be allowed until after I die. We still have two stroke bikes legal on the road and its been how many years since they were regulated out of existence?
 
Eventually, it's all going to change over to electric. Given quite rapid improvements in batteries over the last few years and a couple of new technologies on the horizon (lithium-metal, lithium-sulfur which promise to roughly double the energy stored per unit of weight), plus quite rapid expansion of charging networks ... It will be okay. Different, but okay.

Electric power gets the emissions regulators off the manufacturers' backs. Issue goes away. YES, it becomes someone else's problem (generating station) BUT ... it's someone else's problem.

Fossil fuel distribution is going to be around for a long time yet. Just because the manufacturers stop selling new combustion-engine vehicles beyond 2030 or 2035 or 2040 or who knows (it's likely to be somewhere in that timeframe) doesn't mean fossil fuel distribution goes away overnight. It takes 10 or 15 years for the fleet to turn over. Eventually, it will no longer be economical for filling stations to be on every corner ... When it's easier to plug your vehicle into an electric outlet than to find a filling station, who's going to buy a combustion-engine vehicle any more, especially for day-to-day operation?

We couldn't even pull off an overnight changeover to an all-electric fleet if we wanted to. We don't have enough generating and distribution capacity. But given 10-15 years for sales of new vehicles to ramp up plus another 10-15 years for the fleet to turn over ... That's lots of time to make incremental improvements.

VW has stated that they are not going to develop another generation of combustion engines. The designs that they have in production, will carry them through to the end. Incremental changes along the way, sure, but no more ground-up designs of combustion engines.

GM has stated that the Corvette C8 will be the last generation of Corvette to use an internal-combustion engine powertrain.

If you haven't had the opportunity for a test-drive, or even a test-ride, in one of the performance-oriented Tesla models ... do it.

It will be fine.
 
Until I can pull up to a "CHARGING" station and exchange batteries in the time it takes to refuel i won't be buying an electric car. I'm still driving to Montreal Windsor and all over Ontario.
I don't need a two hour fuel stop.
 
Battery exchange is not how it's going to happen ... and with proper fast chargers, it's not going to take 2 hours to charge, not even today!
 
Brian P said:
Battery exchange is not how it's going to happen ... and with proper fast chargers, it's not going to take 2 hours to charge, not even today!
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If the manufacturers could agree on a suitable coolant for battery packs, I could see a fast charging station with a coolant loop feeding cooled coolant in to better suck heat out of the cells.
 
At some buying an electric car may not our choice, it may be the only choice.

Somebody may create a new technology that produces a fuel cell , my phone now lasts 5 times longer with 1000x the technology inside and in 1/10 the size. Stuff happens fast.
 
Brian P said:
Battery exchange is not how it's going to happen ... and with proper fast chargers, it's not going to take 2 hours to charge, not even today!
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For a full complete charge it takes a long time.
I believe they only charge you as much as you need to get to the next station on your trip
 
Hack said:
As long as there's one drop of liquid dinosaur buried somewhere under the earth... We will have IC engines
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What is the life cycle of airplanes? 70 years or more? They are still being churned out for dyno fuel with no medium term prospect of conversion to electric.
 
GreyGhost said:
Well the upside to bikes is most never see the cold. I think it will be an exceedingly long time (if ever) that ICE engines are actually restricted on public roads. Sure, you may not be able to buy new ones, but the existing ones will be allowed until after I die. We still have two stroke bikes legal on the road and its been how many years since they were regulated out of existence?
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so you cant buy new two stroke bikes...but existing ones that are street legal you can buy from a previous owner...

but you cant convert 2 stroke bikes that arent legal to street legal right?
 
bigpoppa said:
so you cant buy new two stroke bikes...but existing ones that are street legal you can buy from a previous owner...

but you cant convert 2 stroke bikes that arent legal to street legal right?
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Some people have luck with creative interpretation of the rules but by my understanding, you are correct. You can still get off road two strokes though. Not sure when they fade out.
 
Somehow regulators still haven't noticed that motorcycle emissions standards are still quite generous in North America.

Example -

Carbon monoxide limit for Canada & US (California too!): 12 grams/km
EU Euro 5 limit: 1 gram/km

Given how we generally like to go crazy with new legislation and give everyone whiplash, I predict there's not going to be any kind of gradual transition. At some point in the distant future, it's simply going to be: no on-road emissions allowed.
 
They can't even get rid of ICE cars. Trudeau's carbon tax is just an excuse to raise taxes and buy more elections. We'll all be dead before ICE bikes are gone, but electric motorcycles will improve. Rumors in the deep that HD has an improved model coming to replace the LiveWire. We'll see.
 
Roadghost said:
They can't even get rid of ICE cars. Trudeau's carbon tax is just an excuse to raise taxes and buy more elections. We'll all be dead before ICE bikes are gone, but electric motorcycles will improve. Rumors in the deep that HD has an improved model coming to replace the LiveWire. We'll see.
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I know someone working on the next HD electric bike. He sought permission and was allowed to release that info but for obvious reasons not much more.
 
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